If my heart was a house you'd be home! ((Rippal one-shot series))
by Reibunriinta
Summary: Growing up together makes it hard to be in love right? Their relationship seems doomed for failure; Gippal's too selfish, Rikku's too crazy! That doesn't stop Rippal as they change and grow into adults everything is a learning curve to them, and they learn that when they are together everywhere feels like home. (cover Pic found on google, if it's yours tell me I'll give credit)
1. Where were you!

Gippal could usually tell what was on Rikku's mind...in fact usually she was really predictable. But occasionally she did some crazy thing that took him by surprised. Like for instance, randomly tackling him and holding a knife to his throat...that was unexpected and only a lot scary.

"What the heck are you doing?!" he shouted in horror as he stared into her deadly green eyes.

"I want an answer!" she exclaimed "And I'm sick of you ignoring the question!"  
"What are you talking about?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders (or an attempt at one for she was currently pinning him to the ground.)

"Ugh" she rolled her eyes "You are so thick!" she exclaimed. "I see you for the first time in two years and all you say is 'Hey Cid's girl, how you been?'" she mimicked his voice in a disgusted tone. "Haven't you realized I've been asking you this question since I saw you!?"

Gippal stared back at her like she'd gone mad...but no, this was how she usually acted...unfortunately. "I have no clue what you are talking about!" he exclaimed.

"OOH, sometimes you make me want to...want to.." she fumed at his stupidity.

"To what?" he asked "Kill me? Go ahead! It'd be a mercy killing!" he exclaimed "At least I wouldn't have to put up with you any more."

Tears welled up in her eyes. with a deep breath and a sigh she tucked her knife besides the matching one in her belt. Then without another word she stood up and began to walk away unsuccessfully fighting back her tears.

Gippal found himself staring at her back as she walked away. With a sigh he stood up and called out to her. "Cid's girl I..."

Before he could finish, and with greater agility and force than he ever remembered her having, she launched herself at him and forced him to the sand covered ground. With a scream she punched him in the face...since when did she stop hitting like a girl? Suddenly he felt his good eye starting to swell...meaning a black eye. A few more rapid fire hits gave him a bloody lip and a few bruises that he would be feeling for weeks.

"Enough!" he shouted "I'm sorry!" he sighed "Rikku...I didn't mean it...I'm sorry."

Rikku sighed as more tears filled her eyes. She dropped her hands to her sides though they still trembled with anger.

"Now, what the hell are you talking abou..."

Before he could finish she grabbed his shoulders and shook him as hard as she could. "WHERE WERE YOU!" she screamed at him letting more anger out with each word.

Gippal's eye widened in horror and he cringed. How could he be such an idiot? "drec...vilgehk drec!"

Rikku's face turned red in anger. "IS THAT ALL YOU CAN DO?! SWEAR AT ME?!" She took a sharp breath and let it out "I WANT AN ANSWER!"

Gippal sighed his eye closing for a minute before opening it again to look her in the eyes. "I was late." he said as simply as he could.

Rikku's face turned as Crimson as Paine's eyes, and in the moment he feared he'd give her a heart attack. "YOU WERE LATE?!" She asked incredulously. "I SAW MY WHOLE WORLD CRUMBLE AROUND ME! I...I SAW MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, MY FRIENDS, KILLED ALL AROUND ME! I HAD TO WATCH AS WE BLEW UP OUR OWN HOME! THEN I HAD TO TURN RIGHT AROUND AND GO SAVE THE WORLD...I FELT SO ALONE! I WISHED THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED ME TOO! AND YOU WERE LATE?!" Tears filled her eyes. "THAT'S THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH!?"

Tears filled Gippal's eye...did she really think those things hadn't phased him the same way? "I was late because I fought off Seymour and his lackeys! I tried to save Yuna from them but I failed! I'm lucky I survived at all!" he exclaimed. "By the time I got there...I thought...I thought..." he stumbled over his words and his voice cracked. "I THOUGHT THEY'D KILLED YOU!" He exclaimed and he started sobbing out his good eye.

Rikku's expression softened then, and her skin turned back to it's normal coloring. Tears had filled her eyes and this time instead of standing up she wrapped her arms around his neck. She rolled over so that they were laying on their sides and pulled his head onto her shoulder so he could cry into it...something his mom used to do before she died.

"It's okay." Rikku said patting his head gently. "I'm here for ya' pal. And I promise not to threaten you with my knife again...we can be normal..ish okay?" she soothed as she ran her hand through his hair in a comforting way.

"Thanks, Rikku" He whispered and for the first time in forever between them everything was okay...and things could only get better from here.

 _ **A/N Hi everybody! ^_~ This one-shot is a sequel to my one-shot Things both different and the same' and it takes place like maybe an hour later as Rippal starts to leave the ruins of home. If there was any confusion I'm sorry, basically Rikku wanted to know why Gippal wasn't there when the Al Bhed home was destroyed (Since like based off of the sphere in FFX-2 you find out that Gippal knew it was happening and went to go help except he wasn't actually in FFX...so this is why I think he wasn't there...) Also "drec...vilgehk drec!" are swear words translated into Al Bhed (Because I don't really like to cuss for real...) anyway I hope you guys enjoy this One-shot series I am writing for Rippal. I was just going to write the occasional Rippal one-shot and not do a series but h34rt1lly, another writer here on FF net, gave me the idea. So thank her for this series. lol. stay tuned because I will update this semi-frequently and feel free to comment with any ideas/requests for one-shots because I am ALWAYS up for story ideas. ^_' Love y'all , Mata-na -Reibun. ^_~**_


	2. Bailamos!

_'Why am I doing this?'_ Rikku wondered to herself as walked towards Djose temple.

She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was still afraid of the dark; it was so ominous and creepy.

As she walked she got the unsettling feeling that someone was coming up behind her; it was as though Seymour was haunting her! The whole grounds of the temple reminded her of him, which made this worse; the only thing that scared her more than the dark was the thought of Seymour and his lackeys coming back from the dead and enacting their revenge. Even if that was entirely irrational, it still was her greatest fear.

 _'This is all your fault Paine!'_ She thought to herself bitterly.

To make up for leaving the Gullwings to live with Baralai, once every month Paine agreed to spend a week at the Celsius and they'd go sphere hunting like before. They'd even try and get Yuna to come to occasionally. Well, tonight was Paine's last night for this first visit, and so naturally Rikku was sad. Paine's suggestion, oddly enough, was to go visit Gippal.

Well actually it had been phrased more as "If you're so depressed go bother Gippal about it! And let me sleep!" Which she'd muttered, half asleep, when Rikku had woken her up to tell her about how sad she was.

So now here she was, at two something in the morning, bringing left over chocolate chip cookies (Shinra, who was still up insisted she bring them. "guys like food" he'd said.) to Gippal who was probably already asleep and wouldn't appreciate this late night visit. Boy, was she wrong.

When she opened one of the double doors, and the sound echoed through the temple's main hall, she spotted Gippal tinkering with some machina with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. He looked up at her and grinned.

"What are you doing here Riks?" he asked brightly, as though she was visiting at a normal time at night and not 2 in the morning.

"Paine, told me to stop bothering her...so I came here." She smiled despite how awkward this was. "I brought cookies." She said, holding the plate up where he could see.

"Really for me?" He came over and took one, taking a bite. He chewed on it for a minute before stopping as something occurred to him.

"These aren't poisoned are they?" He asked nervously, as though he really expected they would be.

"Of course not!" Rikku exclaimed with a scowl. "If I was going to kill you I'd use my knives..." She sighed sadly "But, I already promised I wouldn't use them on you, remember?" She set the plate down on top of one of the nearby machina with another sigh; she'd regret that promise whenever Gippal was his usual annoying self.

Gippal finished eating with his eyes closed as he savored his last bites. "these are good, by the way." He said with a grin. "And I appreciate you promising that. I'm sure it took a lot of self restraint..."

Rikku scowled again.

"You're so cute when you scowl!" He exclaimed clapping his hands together with a delighted grin.

"And you're scary when you're drunk!" Rikku exclaimed, pointing to the bottle that was still in his hands.

He looked down at it in surprise, as though he had forgotten it completely. He grinned back up at her. "Nah...I'm not drunk...I'm just slightly intoxicated..." He trailed off as if he'd never been speaking at all, turned back to the machina and began tinkering with it again.

"You're totally wasted!" Rikku exclaimed with a frown; admittedly this was the first time she'd seen him drunk, they were both under-age the last time she'd spent more than a few minutes with him.

He ignored her remark and started talking in his usual rapid for way. "These parts came with today's shipment from Bikanel. As soon as I recognized them I started putting this old dinosaur of a thing back together. I'm almost done." He made a few more adjustments to it. "Aaaand...there. It's done." He said and stepped back in satisfaction as he surveyed his work. "You recognize it don't you?"

Rikku nodded. She was looking at the old music player that Gippal and her had constructed out of spare parts when they were kids.

"Does it still work?" She asked with a frown as she fought against remembering all the good memories they'd had together and failed.

"Of course it works. I'm the great Gippal!"

"The great Gippal?" She asked with a frown. "More like the drunken weirdo Gippal..." She muttered under her breath.

He ignored her again and turned on the machina. The sound of a music box filled the room. He'd started their favorite song. Tears filled her eyes with all that came to her mind. They used to listen to this whenever they were sad. When they got older they used to play this song and pretend that they were younger, their moms were alive, and that Gippal still had both his eyes...those times were what got her through her childhood with some amount of happiness. Just thinking of them made her tear up, she wasn't paying attention when Gippal took her hand in his and started swaying to the nostalgic song.

Suddenly, Gippal's arm was wrapped around her waist, her hand was on his shoulder, and they were dancing to the melody that eerily played.

"What are we doing?" Rikku asked, having just realized they were slow dancing.

"We're dancing...what else?" Gippal asked. Boy, when he was drunk he was really something else.

"I see that." She said with a sigh. "But why?"

Gippal frowned. "Why not?" He asked. "There's music playing. I love you, you love me...I'm drunk and you brought cookies." His frown grew deeper at her confused look. "What part of that logic don't you understand?"

Rikku laughed "forget it." she said. "I shouldn't have bothered to ask."

Their dancing grew more intense as the song sped up. They twirled each other around and moved in harmony with one another and the eerie tune. He took her by the hand and twirled her around so fast she nearly fell over. She twirled back to him and fell over just as he caught her, in what she was sure was a cliché moment.

He helped her stand up straight and then pulled her into an embrace. "I love you." He whispered. He pressed his lips up against her and pulled her into the kiss.

Her eyes widened as she felt the sparks that seemed to come from his kiss. Before she realized what was happening she was returning the kiss and he started to intensify it. Finally he backed off and they gasped for air.

Rikku was shocked, all at once she recognized the flutter in her stomach, how fast her heart was beating, the strong feeling that had consumed her thoughts. For the first time she realized she was in love. Sure, they'd flirted with each other before, but none of that was serious! Now, this was serious, and she wasn't sure she was ready to commit to anything like this.

Gippal didn't say anything he just stared at her, waiting for her to react.

Finally she made a decision. "I've gotta' go." She said taking deep breaths to calm herself.

His face fell and his eye filled with tears. Seeing him cry broke her heart.

"This isn't rejection!" She assured him as she turned to leave. "Just...give me time to think about this!" She exclaimed.

She ran out of the temple as fast as she could. Then she ran back to where the Celsius was waiting for her to come back from this 'In and out visit'. She didn't think of the dark or Seymour or anything as she ran. She just needed to get some sleep and think this through before she ruined her friendship with him forever.

"What took you so long?" Brother demanded when she jumped onto the ship. A glance at the nearest clock confirmed she'd been in there nearly two hours.

"Talk later, leave now." She exclaimed, too tired for words. Then she ran back to the cabin where she saw Paine fast asleep with a smile on her face.

 _'This is all your fault!'_ She thought again, and then she collapsed on her bed and didn't think of anything else, until she woke up eight hours later with a headache and no clue what to do next.

 ** _A/N Heya, guys. Sorry I haven't updated anything in forever. I haven't had much time to write fan fiction lately, but I have more time on my hands now, so I'm trying to update all my stories as quickly as I can. ^_~ As for this one-shot it was inspired by the song Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias (Thus the title 'Bailamos') So one thing I did for both this Rippal one-shot series and my Paralai one-shot series was make a playlist of songs I thought would relate to them and then write down a story idea for each song. So yeah this is the first of those ideas, and there will be a lot more of these spread out through this series. ^_~ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Review and tell me what you think (Feel free to nit pick or alternatively troll if it will get you to review. ^_~ lol) So I hope you are liking these one-shots so far. You can expect updates on my other stories soon. I love y'all- Reibun_ **


End file.
